ISSN 2756-3391
African Journal of Parasitology Research ISSN 2343-6549 Vol. 6 (4), pp. 001-007, April, 2019. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Accumulation of trehalose in temperature and moisture stressed infective (L3) and in hypobiotic (L4) larvae of Haemonchus contortus in goats
Siamba D.N1, M. Ngeiywa2, P.M. Gatongi2, L.W. Wamae3, and A. Wambugu3
1Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, P.O Box 25, Naivasha, Kenya.
2Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, P.O Box 57811, Nairobi, Kenya.
3Moi University, P.O Box 3900, Eldoret, Kenya.
Accepted 21 February, 2019
Abstract
A study was conducted to investigate the accumulation of trehalose in infective third (L3) stage of Haemonchus contortus induced for hypobiosis by exposure to gradual increase in temperature and decrease in moisture. Trehalose content in stressed L3, hypobiotic (L4) and mature H. contortus was estimated by densitometry. It was established that infective (L3) larvae subjected to moisture stress accumulated significantly (p = 0.037) higher levels of trehalose compared to the unstressed controls. In addition, infection of goats with the stressed L3 resulted in high proportion of larvae arrested at the fourth (L4) larval stage as indicated by the number of L4 recovered from the abomasal sub-mucosal tissue of goats slaughtered 24 days post infection. These hypobiotic larvae (L 4) had significantly (p = 0.0024) higher relative trehalose content than mature H. contortus recovered from the lumen of the abomasa. The high correlation of trehalose content in stressed larvae and hypobiosis suggested that trehalose metabolism could play a role in hypobiosis. It is suggested that further research should be conducted to confirm or refute this link between hypobiosis and trehalose metabolism.
Key words: Hypobiosis, trehalose, stressed, Haemonchus, larvae.